May 22, 2025 • 8 mins
After a few hours' sleep, I talk with the Congressman about what the House did last night, and what that might mean for taxpayers.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott Vordiez the vote two hundred and fifteen to two
hundred fourteen just hours ago. That is how close the
so called big beautiful bill has finally cleared the House.
One of those who voted in favor joins us now
in Nebraska's second district representative, Congressman Don Bacon here on
(00:22):
eleven ten kfab after a second all night or in
a row, you got a couple hours of sleep, and
thank you very much for calling in here. Good morning, Congressman.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hey Scott, I just literally woke up inside your touch
so about at seven am and got up, got up
just now. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I hope that it was at least a good few
hours of sleep. Do you feel better? Was it easier
to sleep since this bill now is at least out
of the house.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Well, I feel good about it because, first of all,
it does a lot of great things. It prevents freezing
taxes on every Nebrada at about seventeen hundred dollars. If
we did not pass this, every Nebraska on average we
get a seventeen hundred dollars tax increase. So we got that.
So we stided the taxes and made them permanent with us.
(01:13):
We're also fixing the military, which we're mostly underfunded. We're
also working on the border, and we're also doing energy
permitting so that we can expand our energy production. So
those are the good things. I worked very hard with
the last two months. Protect Medicaid. Stand up all the
things that you read about that the Democrats, this thing
(01:33):
we're undermining, we're not. I made sure that the most
vulnerable people were protected, and I worked hard the least
two months to do that, and I feel very good
about it, particularly on the Medicaid side. If you hear
what we cut or what we protected, and most everybody
would would would support it. However, you know then you
(01:55):
don't read about it. So this is what we did.
We ensured. What we did is we said, if you're
an able bodied adult with no children, you got to work,
or you got to look for a job or get
skills to get a job. And just by doing that,
we saved three hundred billion dollars according to the CBO.
We also know that there's two point six million people
(02:17):
on Medicaid that don't belong. They're ineligible. For the last
five years, we are not allowed to do audits or
to go through the Medicaid roles to protect it. And
so just by doing taking off ineligible people and ensuring
that if you're able by the adult you're looking for
a job, that is five hundred billion dollars in savings.
(02:38):
And that's what I focused on. I make sure that
I make sure those who are vulnerable were protected.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
The Republicans, what we did good. The Republicans who were
continuing to argue about this all night, though I don't
know that they're arguing about any of these tax cuts
or medicaid savings in the way that they've been presented
in this bill. What they said was all right, work
to start making these cuts. We're going to make these cuts,
but we don't have any spending cuts on the back end.
(03:06):
We're we're eliminating that which is coming in due to
the tax cuts. We don't have a lot of spending cuts,
and this debt is getting uncontrollable. This is what now
goes on to the United States Senate, where they're going
to start picking this apart. Do you have any concerns
about the lack of spending cuts in this bill, Well.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
There's one point five trillion dollars in spending cuts. Scott. Now,
some people wanted more. But you're really the real deficit
is not in the spending that we're even looking at.
That does nobody wants to talk about it. We have
fifteen We used to have fifteen people working for every retiree.
Now it's two to one. Until we start talking about
(03:48):
Social Security cap you know, the taxes to withholdings. We're
going to adjust those, but none of that's in this bill.
But the real deficits all from you going to two
workers for retiree. We just have fifteen to one until
we start look at that problem. You're not going to
really solve the duff sits. But what that's done, we've
(04:09):
come at one point five trillion dollars in this bill. Yeah,
that's the biggest cuts ever made.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
The President's budget. Chief Russell Vote actually calls it one
point six trillion. But this is removing illegal immigrants off medicaid,
some of the things you do with work requirements and
so forth. This mean, well, it'll have to we'll have
to see what the United States Senate does with this.
(04:39):
They're already expected to tear up many of the policy
provisions that you guys in the House have been fighting for.
What are your concerns when this finally gets to the president.
If it gets to the president, what it's going to
look like when it's done.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I worry about things when you have to worry about them.
I think we passed a good bill. There were things
I would have done differently last night, but you know,
we got four and five of us. You're not gonna
get a perfect bill out. I worked hard to get
as good as I could. And when I was in
the trenches, I was on the trenches on Medicaid DAMP.
I was also working in federal pensions. I saved the
fuberal pensions they were gonna go to. They were gonna
(05:14):
cut people's pensions for those who've been in the job
for twenty years. That's not right. So I said, I
can't vote for something that cuts pensions for people who
are going to retire tomorrow. Right. So I think I
got the best that I could get out of that house.
Out of the House, and the Senate may change all
of it. I'll worry about it when they get to
it and see what they do. I hopefully they'll make
(05:36):
get better. We'll see. But that's how the system works.
You know, we got two were by camera. You gotta
get through the President for signature. It's just the reality,
that's say James Vanison wrote it, and I respect that.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Congress been Don Bacon with us here for a couple
more minutes on news radio ELEVENFA B tell me about
the Trump accounts for newborns?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Can say that against someone?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
What you're talking about this is they the part of
the bill accounts for a thousand dollars savings proposal for
newborns and something called Trump accounts that if you're a
newborn kid, you get a thousand dollars that would help
you know, for I don't know, college or retirement someday
(06:23):
or what they call them Trump accounts.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Okay, well that's something I did not work on, and
I'm not I'm not throwing on it out so ability
that it's better look at that.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, I mean this there's a lot of stuff in here,
which was part of the complaint from some members of
Congress said this is huge. We don't have time to
read all of it before we passed it. Of course,
that's how we got Obamacare. We have to pass it
so we can find out what's in it. Do you
have any concerns on that front with the big beautiful bill.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, there is some legitimate concerns there because I'll give
you an example staying up, I wanted to ensure that, Okay,
if you're illegal, you should not get stamped. And so
you know those are my going in position. And then
it came out if you're a legal refugee, you don't
get stamped. So that's not right if you're here legally
and you're Afghan or Ukrainian or suit of these. We
(07:18):
got all those immigrants right here in Omaha, and you
make it we make it hard for them to get jobs. Then,
so you can't have it both ways. You can't say
it's hard to get a job and we're I can
get the stamp. So I went in there say we
got to fix that. I got to tell you not
until it's the hours before the vote to just get massage.
(07:39):
And so I sort of hear it. I hear the place.
A lot of things were changed within hours of the vote,
and it made it hard. This is a big bill,
but you know what got I'm sorry, I'm one of
four hundred three and five people. I got a yes
voter or a no vote. If I vote no, there's
a lot more damage being done here than if I
voted yes to me because I voting all. When it
(08:00):
goes the bill goes down, the average of Nebraska is
going to pay sixty hundred more dollars in taxes. The
CBO projects that we would have six million people become
unemployed over time if this bill is to get pass.
So I just I got to take the imperfection and
weigh it and say, hey, there's more, much more goodness
building bad.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Here we are on the precipice of Memorial Day weekend.
There is a seeming deadline by Independence Day weekend to
get the President signing this. We'll have to see where
it goes from here at Congressman, thank you very much
for working all night and waking up bleary eyed, staring
at your phone and calling us and being here on
KFAB with us. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Hey, I hope I made sense because I literally just
woke up.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
I know I appreciate that. Scott Boy Mornings nine to eleven,
our news Radio eleven ten KFAB
Scott Vordiez the vote two hundred and fifteen to two
hundred fourteen just hours ago. That is how close the
so called big beautiful bill has finally cleared the House.
One of those who voted in favor joins us now
in Nebraska's second district representative, Congressman Don Bacon here on
(00:22):
eleven ten kfab after a second all night or in
a row, you got a couple hours of sleep, and
thank you very much for calling in here. Good morning, Congressman.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hey Scott, I just literally woke up inside your touch
so about at seven am and got up, got up
just now. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
I hope that it was at least a good few
hours of sleep. Do you feel better? Was it easier
to sleep since this bill now is at least out
of the house.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Well, I feel good about it because, first of all,
it does a lot of great things. It prevents freezing
taxes on every Nebrada at about seventeen hundred dollars. If
we did not pass this, every Nebraska on average we
get a seventeen hundred dollars tax increase. So we got that.
So we stided the taxes and made them permanent with us.
(01:13):
We're also fixing the military, which we're mostly underfunded. We're
also working on the border, and we're also doing energy
permitting so that we can expand our energy production. So
those are the good things. I worked very hard with
the last two months. Protect Medicaid. Stand up all the
things that you read about that the Democrats, this thing
(01:33):
we're undermining, we're not. I made sure that the most
vulnerable people were protected, and I worked hard the least
two months to do that, and I feel very good
about it, particularly on the Medicaid side. If you hear
what we cut or what we protected, and most everybody
would would would support it. However, you know then you
(01:55):
don't read about it. So this is what we did.
We ensured. What we did is we said, if you're
an able bodied adult with no children, you got to work,
or you got to look for a job or get
skills to get a job. And just by doing that,
we saved three hundred billion dollars according to the CBO.
We also know that there's two point six million people
(02:17):
on Medicaid that don't belong. They're ineligible. For the last
five years, we are not allowed to do audits or
to go through the Medicaid roles to protect it. And
so just by doing taking off ineligible people and ensuring
that if you're able by the adult you're looking for
a job, that is five hundred billion dollars in savings.
(02:38):
And that's what I focused on. I make sure that
I make sure those who are vulnerable were protected.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
The Republicans, what we did good. The Republicans who were
continuing to argue about this all night, though I don't
know that they're arguing about any of these tax cuts
or medicaid savings in the way that they've been presented
in this bill. What they said was all right, work
to start making these cuts. We're going to make these cuts,
but we don't have any spending cuts on the back end.
(03:06):
We're we're eliminating that which is coming in due to
the tax cuts. We don't have a lot of spending cuts,
and this debt is getting uncontrollable. This is what now
goes on to the United States Senate, where they're going
to start picking this apart. Do you have any concerns
about the lack of spending cuts in this bill, Well.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
There's one point five trillion dollars in spending cuts. Scott. Now,
some people wanted more. But you're really the real deficit
is not in the spending that we're even looking at.
That does nobody wants to talk about it. We have
fifteen We used to have fifteen people working for every retiree.
Now it's two to one. Until we start talking about
(03:48):
Social Security cap you know, the taxes to withholdings. We're
going to adjust those, but none of that's in this bill.
But the real deficits all from you going to two
workers for retiree. We just have fifteen to one until
we start look at that problem. You're not going to
really solve the duff sits. But what that's done, we've
(04:09):
come at one point five trillion dollars in this bill. Yeah,
that's the biggest cuts ever made.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
The President's budget. Chief Russell Vote actually calls it one
point six trillion. But this is removing illegal immigrants off medicaid,
some of the things you do with work requirements and
so forth. This mean, well, it'll have to we'll have
to see what the United States Senate does with this.
(04:39):
They're already expected to tear up many of the policy
provisions that you guys in the House have been fighting for.
What are your concerns when this finally gets to the president.
If it gets to the president, what it's going to
look like when it's done.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
I worry about things when you have to worry about them.
I think we passed a good bill. There were things
I would have done differently last night, but you know,
we got four and five of us. You're not gonna
get a perfect bill out. I worked hard to get
as good as I could. And when I was in
the trenches, I was on the trenches on Medicaid DAMP.
I was also working in federal pensions. I saved the
fuberal pensions they were gonna go to. They were gonna
(05:14):
cut people's pensions for those who've been in the job
for twenty years. That's not right. So I said, I
can't vote for something that cuts pensions for people who
are going to retire tomorrow. Right. So I think I
got the best that I could get out of that house.
Out of the House, and the Senate may change all
of it. I'll worry about it when they get to
it and see what they do. I hopefully they'll make
(05:36):
get better. We'll see. But that's how the system works.
You know, we got two were by camera. You gotta
get through the President for signature. It's just the reality,
that's say James Vanison wrote it, and I respect that.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
Congress been Don Bacon with us here for a couple
more minutes on news radio ELEVENFA B tell me about
the Trump accounts for newborns?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Can say that against someone?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
What you're talking about this is they the part of
the bill accounts for a thousand dollars savings proposal for
newborns and something called Trump accounts that if you're a
newborn kid, you get a thousand dollars that would help
you know, for I don't know, college or retirement someday
(06:23):
or what they call them Trump accounts.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
Okay, well that's something I did not work on, and
I'm not I'm not throwing on it out so ability
that it's better look at that.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, I mean this there's a lot of stuff in here,
which was part of the complaint from some members of
Congress said this is huge. We don't have time to
read all of it before we passed it. Of course,
that's how we got Obamacare. We have to pass it
so we can find out what's in it. Do you
have any concerns on that front with the big beautiful bill.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Yeah, there is some legitimate concerns there because I'll give
you an example staying up, I wanted to ensure that, Okay,
if you're illegal, you should not get stamped. And so
you know those are my going in position. And then
it came out if you're a legal refugee, you don't
get stamped. So that's not right if you're here legally
and you're Afghan or Ukrainian or suit of these. We
(07:18):
got all those immigrants right here in Omaha, and you
make it we make it hard for them to get jobs. Then,
so you can't have it both ways. You can't say
it's hard to get a job and we're I can
get the stamp. So I went in there say we
got to fix that. I got to tell you not
until it's the hours before the vote to just get massage.
(07:39):
And so I sort of hear it. I hear the place.
A lot of things were changed within hours of the vote,
and it made it hard. This is a big bill,
but you know what got I'm sorry, I'm one of
four hundred three and five people. I got a yes
voter or a no vote. If I vote no, there's
a lot more damage being done here than if I
voted yes to me because I voting all. When it
(08:00):
goes the bill goes down, the average of Nebraska is
going to pay sixty hundred more dollars in taxes. The
CBO projects that we would have six million people become
unemployed over time if this bill is to get pass.
So I just I got to take the imperfection and
weigh it and say, hey, there's more, much more goodness
building bad.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
Here we are on the precipice of Memorial Day weekend.
There is a seeming deadline by Independence Day weekend to
get the President signing this. We'll have to see where
it goes from here at Congressman, thank you very much
for working all night and waking up bleary eyed, staring
at your phone and calling us and being here on
KFAB with us. Appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Hey, I hope I made sense because I literally just
woke up.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
I know I appreciate that. Scott Boy Mornings nine to eleven,
our news Radio eleven ten KFAB
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